Radiant Gardens
by WaveRider 53
Summary: Post last Cloud and Sephiroth battle. The story is about the Hollow Bastion gang making their new lives after the war and after Tron takes over MPC. In their town Radiant Gardens.Cloud x Tifa Leon x Yuffie and hints of Aerith x Leon but only flirting
1. A New Beginning

**Radiant Gardens**

**Chapter one: A New beginning**

**Its two days after the last battle with Cloud and Sephiroth, and after Sora and the others left.**

**--- I hope you guys like this, it started out as drabble but then I got hooked, I still a beginning writer so I hope it works**

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The morning sun filled the room with light, but what amazed Cloud was his own heart was filled with light. Finally Sephiroth was dead, and he no longer hunts Cloud. The town was no longer under attack. It's like feeling the sun on his skin for the first time again. Slowly he swings his feet over of the bed so he is sitting up the clock reads 7:15. It's early considering last night they talked for half the night. Slowly he gets off his bed it's easier today, a weight has been lifted; he can finally live his life how he wants too. Getting up he pulls on a shirt and slips on his pants. Then he opens his bedroom door only to be blasted with the smell on eggs and bacon. He fights the temptation to follow his nose and go down to who made breakfast and to see if he can steal it, instead he heads to the bath room to finish getting ready.

Downstairs Tifa sit on the bar stool, facing the stove, her back turned to the stairs. Her head is bent low as she scans the paper, Yuffie comes skipping down the stairs, in a long Pajama shirt.

"yumm, smells good" she takes a deep breath, "got any left?"

"On the stove, wrapped in the foil" Tifa answers not looking up from the paper. "Oh, and Cid's coffee should be done now can you take it off for me, he'll be down shortly."

"Sure thing." She smiles as she takes the coffee pot of the coffee machine. And then moves to get the food.

"Hey hold on." Tifa tells her.

Yuffie looks up, "find anything?"

Tifa shakes her head, "no, I don't think I will either; but Aerith was down earlier and made chocolate chip pancakes. They're in the microwave to stay worm."

"Yum my favorite" Yuffie says as she helps her self to the food.

Heavy foot steps were heard from up stairs.

"Cid's up" Yuffie informs Tifa.

Tifa only nods, still scanning though the paper.

"Good morning, Cid" Yuffie smiles at Cid who was half way down the stairs, "made you coffee."

"Morning" he grunts as he pores himself a mug, "smells good"

Cid joins Yuffie at the table eating eggs and bacon.

"Aerith made the coffee this morning." Yuffie smiles.

Cid how ever looks questionably at his cup, "should I be afraid?"

"dunno, you're the only one who dinks it." Yuffie answers while helping herself to seconds.

"Guess there's only one way to find out" he shrugs and takes a big gulp.

Tifa looks up from the paper, and at cid, there a slight hint of hope that this time Aerith made the coffee correctly. "Is it good?" she asks thankful he didn't spit it out this time.

"Yeah, tastes just like when you makes it" he smiles at Tifa, " she did a good job, her next goal is to work on her eggs. Where is she by the way?"

Tifa laughs, "yeah her eggs are horrible, she out in town, said she wanted to get her shopping done early." she laughs at Cid face.

"I hate shopping…" he mutters. While taking a bite of Aerith's eggs. "Part of them aren't fully cooked, while the other part is burnt. What did you make Tifa?"

"the pancakes, bacon, and waffles." Tifa informs him.

Cid gets up and fills his plate with the food Tifa made.

Tifa looked back down at her paper, "Aerith made the bacon" she mutters. "But it was so bad; when she left I made a new batch."

"ha, we shouldn't tell her that." he said as he picks the other half of the paper.

Yuffie tried to stop her self from laughing, but ended up choking on her food. The other two didn't even look up.

"Nice to know you care" she says sarcastically.

"I care." Leon said from the bottom of the stairs.

"Honest, Squall?" Yuffie asked sweetly. She never did take to calling him Leon.

"Don't lie, Leon. Or it'll be the devil to pay" Tifa chides in.

Leon look at Tifa, who still scanning the paper, then back to Yuffie, "she's right, I don't." he smiles.

Yuffie acts hurts, "you suck" but ends up smiling anyways.

"Find anything?" Leon asks as he helps himself with food.

"No" both Cid and Tifa answer.

Just then Cloud come down the stairs.

"Good morning, Cloud!" Yuffie says in a sing song voice.

"Good morning" he says back, looking at every one in the kitchen.

Tifa was on a bar stool, reading the paper, Leon was next to her both of them had their backs to him. Yuffie was sitting at the table facing him, while cid was turned side ways at the table, reading the paper. "Do you get up this early in morning, all the time?" he asked yawning.

Leon shrugged, "yeah, breakfast is on the stove. I'd stay away from the eggs, Aerith made them."

Tifa's look at Leon, trying not to laugh.

"I think I'll take my chances" he glanced at Tifa who was now staring into his eyes, their eyes locked. The first thing Tifa noticed was Clouds eyes no longer seem empty, they had feeling in them, and they looked almost like he had desire in them. Quickly she looked down, in fear of blushing; she stared into the paper, but not really reading anything. Tifa felt his eyes still on her, slowly she looked up, and he was still staring in her eyes. She smiled despite herself, and he was smiling back. Tifa then felt a new set of eyes on her, turning her head she saw every one busy with their own thing, after all it only been a minute, but then she saw Yuffie, looking at both of them smiling with a glint of mischief.

Slowly she focused back on Cloud, but he already turned around getting food. Then he sat next to Yuffie. Tifa looked down at her paper again, to scan the last page of the paper.

"Nothing, I couldn't find anything" Tifa said, "it's truly is back to normal."

Yuffie smiled, "its back to Radiant Gardens?"

"Seems like it." Cloud laughed, "We haven't called it that in years"

"Well I'm glad we're going to start."

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**I know it short and I probably wont update in a while because schools going to start, but I wanted to put this out there, to see how people like it, please tell me in a review, and who knows if I get a lot then a maybe I'll update sooner.**


	2. I'm Sorry Flower

**As promised the second chapter is up quicker with reviews.**

**--Thank you so much luneress for your review, it truly did make me proofread and post this chapter faster **

**(By the way, their house is built on a hill, so the kitchen is the ground level for the front and side of the house, but the basement also is the ground level for the back of the house.**

**The bed rooms and bathroom are all up stairs. So in a sense the house has three levels.)**

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Radiant Gardens

**Chapter two: I'm sorry flower **

"Hey Cid", Tifa called from up stairs, "can you clean the dishes?" it was now around 12:00 in the morning. Breakfast was over and everyone left to go town, and begin their day; leaving their dishes all over the kitchen. Tifa normally didn't mind, she would just clean them before heading out, but today she wanted to find Yuffie and talk with her before she had a chance to talk with Cloud.

"no," cid shouted back, "you do it every morning, why cant you do it today!"

Tifa smiled, as she heard Cid then curse at the computer he was working on. "Dam it, you retarded piece of shit!" Strapping on her other boot, Tifa left her upstairs bed room, and headed down to the kitchen, standing on that level she called down to the basement, "thanks Cid, you're the best"

Then turned and headed out of the side door, to the gardens. From out side the house she could still hear cid yell, "Tifa, you get back here, I'm busy! TIFA! Dam girl."

Chuckling to her self, two new voices came into ear shot.

"Squall." The voice was only a weak whisper.

"Yuffie, its fine you said enough. I under stand." Leon's voice was low and venomous.

"No, you don't under stand at all!" she cried, without tears.

Tifa quickly walked over to where they were standing, with only a line of rose bushes blocking her from their view. Peering though the branches Tifa saw Yuffie crouching next to some of Aerith's flowers only a few steps away from Leon, she had her back to Tifa unknowingly and her side was facing Leon. A small yellow flower was held gently in her hand.

Leon was watching her, spin the flower in her hand; he was perfectly still, like if the slightest movement would break him. Finally he spoke again, "Yuffie, this is just something I need to try."

At this point, the flower Yuffie was holding so gently was squashed in her palm. "why?" she didn't sound mad any more, her tone was low and cheerless.

Leon didn't answer but started to walk away.

Turning all the way around, Yuffie was faced him as she stood up, "wait" she looked up at Leon who stopped in between the arch way leading to the next part of the garden. She looked down at the crushed flower she was holding with the small broken steam, fingering the crushed pedals gingerly, she said "I don't want to see you hurt again." She glanced up seeing him staring at her she quickly lowered her head and stared at the broken flower.

Leon walked over to Yuffie and lifted her chin with his hand, then wrapped her in a hug, "that's my risk, Yuffie."

As quickly as he walked over back to Yuffie he walked away; leaving Yuffie to collapse on the floor, clutching the broken yellow flower. Tifa want to go comfort her, but she knew Yuffie would not want to be seen like this, What ever was going on between her and Leon it was their business, so of course, Tifa was going to figure it out, without either of them knowing.

On the other side of town, Cloud headed over to the fountain. He knew she would be there. From a distance he saw her; she was dancing around throwing the flowers into the water, or around her. As he walked down the hill he could hear her singing. He watched her singing and dancing to her own tune, throwing the flowers so it looked like they were raining from the sky. He walked in to view, but she didn't see him.

"Aerith."

"Oh," she turned, "Hey Cloud!" she threw some flowers at him. He caught one in his hand, and he crushed it in to a fist.

Aerith saw this and her eyes flooded with concern. "Cloud, are you ok?" It was dumb a question, she knew that, but it was the best she could think up.

"Aerith, I--" he voice faded.

"Cloud, I know what this about." She set her basket of flowers down.

"y-you do?"

She nodded and walked over to him, putting her arms around his waist, "but its ok, I'll always be here." She pulled away slightly looking in to his eyes. She thought he was still suffering from Sephiroth darkness. She thought he was afraid he was going to lose his friends because of it. Cloud moved his arms around her, but as soon as he hugged her back he realized what she thought it was about. Not wanting to confused her, he pulled her off on him, "no, it not about that"

"then what is it?"

"Flower…" Cloud stopped, he didn't know how to say it. How could he tell Aerith, the girl he once loved, that he no longer loves her? How could he tell her that he like a girl he can't have. "Flower, it just…" he stopped again.

Aerith was surprised when he called her flower, she hasn't been called that since the last time this town was called Radiate Gardens. Even though it's been years she knew it couldn't be good news he only used to call her flower when something bad happened.

His eyes were alive with deep thought; it was like something was distracting him. A month ago she would have given anything to have his eyes like that again, instead of being empty or full of sorrow. However, looking back now, she realized that when she wished for his eyes to be alive like they are now, she assumed she would be the one, making them alive. But today, through his eyes, she knows she's not one making them seem alive. He's distracted by someone else, some other girl.

She let out a sigh of realization, "its ok. I hoped that we would be able to pick up where we left off, after you sorted though you're past." A sad smile crawled on to her lips, "I guess, I always knew that it wouldn't happen. And that I was just kidding my self. Some where deep inside me, I knew that we would both be different, that it wouldn't work. We changed Cloud. I know that. But we didn't change together."

She always could speak what was going through his head, better than he could. It was just a knack she had, she knew how people acted and why, and even how they thought; That's one of the reasons Cloud liked her, she always knew what to say, and how to say it.

Aerith sad smile turned back into a happy one, she could always smile in hard times, even if it was a fake one; it was still a smile. Cloud knew that this smile was a fake, and he wished she wouldn't fake a smile. He didn't want her to pretend to be happy around him. She never used to fake anything around him. Cloud used to be the only one who would see her sad, but that changed now. Here she stands in front of him, faking a smile. Aerith spoke the truth; they have changed. They grew apart.

He couldn't look her in her eyes. If Cloud looked into her eyes the words would never come out, they would be left unsaid, and this chapter of there life would never end. So he avoided her eyes looking up at the clear sky, "I'm sorry flower, but it has to end." Cloud said, as he walked away, he dropping the crumpled flower into the wind.

The flower drifted up in the soft breeze, over to where Aerith caught it gently. Slowly she walked over, to the fountain; dumping the rest of her basket of flowers uncaringly into the water. She watched the flowers float along; as she watched she noticed her own refection in the water. Through the water she noticed two tears falling from her eyes and sliding down her cheek.

Tifa was wondering down the street well away from Cloud and Aerith around the same time. As she walked she got the feeling she was being followed. Turning around full three-sixty she saw no one; so she continued on her way to the out skirts of town. As she was walking she could have sworn she heard footsteps, turning again she peered down the streets, nothing was out of place. "Yuffie?" she called as she shifted her gaze towards the rooftops, nothing. Laughing silently at herself for her own stupidly she continued to walk. She was over reacting, everything is normal again.

"You know, you almost had me the first time."

Tifa turned around, off to the side of her Leon was leaning on the building wall.

"What first time?" she asked.

"First time you turned around," he chuckled, "wow, you're slow." He shook his head disapprovingly. Tifa ignored his insult and got right to the point, "why are you on the far side of town?"

"No reason" he shrugged.

"Why were you following me?" she tried again.

"Don't flatter your self. I wasn't fallowing you." He looked down the street past her. "Just walking"

Tifa looked at him questionably he was hiding something, he was looking for some one, maybe it had to deal with what she over heard this morning. She knew how to get him to talk, she was the only person who could get him to talk with out bugging him to death, and she wasn't going to share her secret. "Ok, well then, I'll be on my way." she smiled friendly at him before turning and walking away, counting the seconds before he called to tell her too wait. _One, two, three,_ she counted, _four, five…_

"wait." He jogged up to Tifa.

Tifa stopped and smiled knowingly before turning around, "yes?" she questioned.

"Maybe you can help me."

Tifa laughed, "wow, Leon asking for help, that a first." He didn't laugh, like she thought he would. So she stopped, "what'd ya need?"

"Where's Aerith?" he asked avoiding her eyes. Tifa looked up at him, maybe she was right. Maybe this was about this morning. "Why are you looking for her?" she asked making his intention sound dirty.

He looked at her like he couldn't believe it. Tifa was never one to joke like; he was always the one to make normal things sound nasty. "I just am." He wasn't joking, he wasn't in the mood to joke.

Tifa wasn't getting any where if she was going to figure out what going on, she have to play her cards right. "Well, if you can't tell me, I can't help you." She smiled, trying to tease him, but he wasn't taking the bait. So she turned to leave.

After walking a few feet, he called to her, "Tifa!"

"Tell me why you're looking for her?" she called over her shoulder laughing but never stopped walking.

He ran up to her again and turned her so she faced him, "I need to talk to her. Is that so hard to believe?" he said venomously. But Tifa missed his annoyed tone and continued to joke, "You_ need _her…"

"I can see your no help." Leon cut her off, he was getting mad, his hands were turned into fist, so before he did something dumb, he turned away to find Aerith on his own. After he walked a few feet Tifa realized she pushed it too far, taking a few steps forward to make the gap between them not so big she called "I think she went to put her flowers in the fountain, she did leave to long ago; so she'll still be there" Leon didn't thank her, just nodded while he turned to make his way to the fountain.

Tifa walked the opposite direction heading over to the abandoned warehouses. Leon was good for laugh, but only if he would play along and today he wasn't playing at all.

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**Hope this chapter was good; sorry for any grammar mistakes I tried to catch them all.**

**Reads and review please : P**


	3. Check Mate

**Sorry for the lateness, I wrote the chapter on lined paper, but because of that I kept putting off typing it, never doing that again…. Once again, thanks for my reviews, and so sorry for taking so long….**

**Check Mate **

He walked for some time, never truly knowing where he's going. He just let his feet lead him to wherever they wanted to go. In the distance he could hear grunts and slight screams, but the sound didn't interests him, he didn't really hear it anyways, it got lost in all the other thoughts going through his head. However his feet had other ideas, they brought him closer to the noise; until the noise distracted him from his own mind. Looking around he realized he was standing in the abandoned warehouses. Across the street in one of the empty garages, he saw her, hacking away with her knives at sandbags hanging from the ceiling. He stood in the door watching the sand fly which ever which way. She's gotten better at fighting, her moves are faster, stronger, but they lack technique. He guesses that that his fault, he used to teach her, tell her how to move, and show her how to read people. But the lessons stopped once he got lost inside himself, his own struggles, how at the time he though it was just his business, that no one else was affected. But now, standing here watching her let out her emotions on useless bags he realized that every one was affected. He realized why she, Yuffie would make it a point to talk to him, try to get him to laugh. Or why Aerith would try to get him to talk; he never did come to her to talk, not once. If he had something to say he would say it to himself. Even Leon and Cid tried to help in their own way. Tifa, his eyes close thinking: everyday he would run from Tifa, trying protect her, trying to keep her out of harms way. How many times did he tell her to leave him alone; but she always was stubborn, never listens to any one, he guesses that's a good thing. If she would have listened, he still would be darkness. Its funny how things work out, he tried to protect her to save her from Sephiroth, when in truth she saved him.

Sand sprayed against the wall next to him, interrupting his thoughts. She truly was working herself.

Tifa was the reason for his light, when she tried to fight for him, it shone. His concern for her was the source of his light. It was then Sephiroth was destroyed; the light that Tifa made appear was two bright Sephiroth, it almost was too bright for himself even. He laughed out loud; he spent all that time running from Tifa, convinced he could do it on his own but she knew better, she was the one to lead him to his light; she was the one that saved him. He laughed louder; he spent all that time running, when she was the one he was looking unknowingly. He shakes his head as a small dagger hit the wall next to him and bounces off.

"That was just a warning! Next one wont miss.!" Yuffie yelled, "Step in to view!"

Stepping around the broken sand bags he asked her, "When did you learn to throw like that, Yuff?"

Yuffie dropped all the daggers she had in her arms. "Cloud!"

He was pounced by the small ninja, and engulfed in and big hug. "I thought you forgot about our lessons!" Cloud was surprised, he remembered the lessons but he didn't remember the day or time they would have them.

"Lessons. I remember them. You got better, but we planed one today?"

"You silly, of course not! We would just have them every third day, around two."

"and one is today?"

"Well duh!" she pulled his hand over to a wall that had scratches on it. "that, "she pointed to a set of notches, "are the days I come here to train when you're here, I made the tallies into "x" because it was the day we said we would train, every third day at two o'clock." She smiled, there were a lot of "x" scratches into the wall.

"wow, we came down here a lot didn't we?" Yuffie nodded and smiled, then pulled him to the next set of notches "and these are the days I came down when you weren't here. The "x" are again the planed day to train, but the tallies are when I just came down on my own" Cloud looked at the wall, there were at least three time as many "x'es" on this wall than the other one, but in between every "x" was three tally marks.

"you've been coming down here every day?"

"Umhum," she smiled at him, "you know you should say you're sorry. You've missed more lessons than you came to."

Cloud looked down, she was right, "I'm sorry Yuffie."

"wha- no, no, no, NO. I was only joking, don't apologize! ---"

"But your right. I missed a lot."

"Stop it! Stop feeling sorry for yourself!" she spun around throwing a dagger at the target painted on the wall be hind her. The dagger hit dead center but bounced of the wall. "Dang it! I can never get them to stay stuck."

"Here. When you throw, flick your wrist more, it will help it to fly straight, that way it's the tip of the dagger that hit the wall first." He grabbed one of her knives and threw it, it stuck in the wall at the center. "You try"

Yuffie did, but the knife still didn't stay in the wall, "no, it's more of a flick" he put her hand in his and they threw the knife together, it stuck into the wall. "You see? Now try on your own…"

Across town Tifa was wondering down to the abandoned garage, she knew Yuffie was there. And she wanted to talk to her before she talked to Cloud. Still she wasn't in a hurry so she was wondering round, taking her time, trying to sort out what's going on between Leon and Yuffie. 'It's funny once the heartless are gone, and Clouds back, all this drama pops up, or maybe,' she thinks, 'maybe it was here before, but I was to busy chasing Cloud to notice.' Either way, she had find Yuffie, and sort out the mess. Leon however, day was not going as planed, first he got in a argument with Yuffie, then he walked around looking for heartless to kill, only to remember there was none left, finally he found Aerith down by the fountain, from a distance he could tell she was crying, but when he walked she had a smile on. Sitting next to her she started to tell him of her day. Leon knew it was a lie, but he let her pretend anyways, making a mental note to ask Cloud what going on, Cloud could always read people much better than he could.

"…so anyways, the garden is getting so big! I just don't know what to do." Aerith smiled, "I think I'm going to have to expand..." she looked down, for a spilt seconded her face dropped, but it was so fast, Leon questioned if it was even there.

"Wow, sounds like you had a full day… mine was just boring…" he thought back to his and Yuffie fight. It wasn't really a fight, but he could tell he let her down. He could tell Yuffie was scared for him, scared that he would get hurt again, but he wouldn't let that stop him. He had to try again, "I tried finding things to kill, but could find any heartless. Sora really did his job well. Wish he would have left some"

"You don't mean that!" she fakes a shock expression.

"The hell I do! True it nice finally was getting to rebuild faster, but there nothing to fight in our down time."

"You could hack at sand bags like Yuffie…" she pushes lightly

"Nah, I'm too good for that, "Leon teases, "but maybe, I could fight with Cloud…"

At the sound of Clouds name, all color left Aerith's face, her expression went cold.

"Aerith? Aerith's what's wrong?" Leon asked, concerned.

Looking up she lies "nothing" with a smile her color is back. "It's just weird having him back, it weird, but its good." closing her eyes, she blinks away tears. Leon would defiantly have to talk to Cloud, but for now he lets it go.

They sit in silence. Both lost it thought, but Aerith couldn't stand the silence she needed something to keep her mind off Cloud so she splashes Leon with water. While dodging his splash back she attempts to push him in, but ended up getting pulled in the fountain with him with him.

"You!" she gasps laughing while splashing more water at him. Getting to his knees he grabs her waist and pulls her down, soaking the both of them.

Aerith catches his eyes, but instead she saw Cloud, only for second, but that second was long enough. She wasn't ready to move on, it wasn't fair to Leon. Focusing back to the present, she found Leon, starring at her. Looking into Leon's eyes she sees Cloud again, absorbed with trying to get him out of her head, she doesn't even realize when Leon pulls her into his arms.

Tifa now on a mission, she has to find Yuffie. She has to talk to Yuffie about Leon. So Tifa is no longer mindlessly walking, she is hunting, she is looking though every abandoned garage, looking for the small ninja. Nearing the far side of the garages, she hears grunting, and screaming. Yuffie must be around here somewhere. Another scream escaped a near building; Tifa followed the sound and found her self standing out side of a rusted garage. The same garage that Yuffie would have lessons with Cloud in. Mentally kicking her self, she opened the door silently.

Cloud and Yuffie were fighting. Well Yuffie was fighting; Cloud was mealy blocking Yuffie's every move. Tifa watched them bounce back and forth using the walls and the hung ropes that once hug sand bags to get the other person.

"is that all you got, Yuff" Tifa heard Cloud mocking the ninja. As a response Yuffie, bounced of the side of the wall grabbing hold of a rope and attempted in swinging around Cloud, to attack from behind. But the weight of her Shuriken threw her off balance and she came crashing to the floor.

Cloud looked at her, amused. "like I said earlier, is that all you got."

"shut up cloud." Yuffie pouted on the floor.

Tifa watched the two of them, almost jealous, but then what did she have to be jealous of, she does the same thing. Now that everything is fine, Clouds back and happy, they all joke around. Still Tifa turns to leave unable to watch any more; she can talk to Yuffie later.

Yuffie glances at the door just in time to see Tifa walk out, forgetting about Cloud's out stretched hand to help her up, Yuffie jumps up by herself and runs towards the door. "TIFFAA!!!! Come back!!!!"

"It's ok, you guys go finish. I can wait." Tifa called back.

"Were done, Come on." she grabs Tifa hand and starts to pull her back over to Cloud.

"Yuffie, let go. YUFFIE STOP PULLING. Yuffie, I'm walking, stop trying to get me to go faster. Yuffie!!" Tifa exclaimed whiled getting pulled. She then glared at Cloud who was watching the scene before him amusingly "Cloud, are going to help?"

"Nah, this is quite fun."

"There!" Yuffie said as she let go of Tifa hand," now… I'm tiered so I'm going to go see if Cid needs help. But Tifa, Cloud didn't get much of a work out, so you so fight him." There was glint of mischief young ninja eyes, "bye" and she was already out of the door.

"so… do you want…." Cloud picked up his sword, as if that finished his sentence for him.

"yeah, but no weapons." Tifa answered, pulling on her gloves.

Cloud waited till her gloves were on, then he lunged at her. Tifa dodged easily; maybe she wasn't as slow as she though. After a few more doges, Tifa lunged forward to hit Cloud. But he read her move and stepped to the right landing him in the perfect spot hit Tifa down to the ground, but instead all he did was nudge her, letting her know that she left herself open.

"You going soft, Cloud?" she teases, while connecting a blow to his shoulder.

He slips behind her and jabs Tifa hard in the back, pushing her to the wall. "Nah, I just like messing with you." He jumps in font of her trapping her between his body and the wall. She tries to hit him again, so she could clear a path out from between him. However once again Cloud read her moves and caught her hand, pushing it above her head, holding it there. He leaned in, his lips inches from hers, "check mate."

Tifa smiled, "you got lucky."

"Right…" Cloud said skeptically.

"Hey Cloud, why did you leave again?" her eyes locked on to his.

Cloud knew what she was talking about. Tifa asked why after he defeated Sephiroth, he left again.

"I…" he took a deep breath. "I had to make sure I put him in area, where he could never come back."

"Where'd you put him?" she whispered the closeness of his lips made her breath get caught in her throat.

"Somewhere he can't get to you." Cloud let go of her hands and stared to walk away.

"What! Cloud what does that mean?" she ran after him, "Cloud?"

"It means" he turned, standing in the garage door way, "he can longer get out, and hunt me; he can't hurt my friends anymore." With that Cloud was gone.

"Cloud." Tifa ran to the door, but he was already gone. "Uhhg, Yuffie was right Cloud, you're a pain in the ass," Tifa said thinking back to the last time Cloud had to defeat Sephiroth, back when 7th heaven was their home.

**Review please**


	4. Letter from the Past

**Chapter four**

**Letter from the Past**

**Ok so if you know the ff8 story really well, you won't be happy with this chapter…heck I'm not happy with it… Anyways you won't like it because I have Rinoa dieing in childbirth. And then the kid dieing, sorry I just wanted something sad to happen with out it happening to a main character directly (that what happens when I'm in a sad mood + it helps the story out a ton) So please don't hate…**

Yuffie was proud of herself. She just set up, probably the two hardest people ever to set with each other. She wasn't just proud, she was excited, she was so excited that she ran into their home, yelling for cid. "CID!, OH CID, CIDDY, WHERE ARE YOU?"

"will you SHUT UP." Cid calls from down in the basement.

Yuffie runs down the stairs, "Cid! There you are. You never believe what I just did…"

Cid doesn't answer just continues to make tweaks to the Highwind engine.

"well do you want to know?" she asks excitedly.

"no"

"well fine, I wont tell you." She starts to walk up the stairs, hoping that Cid will call her back down to tell him the news.

"Yuffie" Cid calls to her not looking up.

Yuffie stops half way up the stairs, "yeah" every second she getting more excited about telling him about Cloud and Tifa.

"while your up there, clean the dishes, Tifa didn't do them this morning."

"uuhhg, Cid. I have important stuff to tell you. Aren't you at least the littlest bit curious?" she whines now at the bottom of the stairs again.

"no"

"not even the littlest, faintest itsy bitsy, tiny bit?"

"no"

"uuhhg, well I'll tell you anyways. I just set Cloud and Tifa up."

Cid looked up, "like on a date?"

Yuffie's smiled, "ha! You are interested," but then her face fell, "well not really a _date_ but they are in a garage together."

"oh" Cid went back to his work.

Yuffie ran over to him, "wh-what , that's it?"

"you got them to go in a garage together, where you would practice fighting. That not that hard, they both love to practice to fight."

"well it doesn't sound good when said like that." Yuffie pouts. And starts to walk away, but when Cid looks back down she smiles again. And carefully walks around behind him, so he won't notice "wanna know how I did it?" she asks kind of loud by his ear.

Cid drops his screwdriver, "God dam it Yuffie! for the last time, girl, no, now leave me alone."

"well it started when I was fighting alone," Yuffie started to tell him anyways completely unaffected by his out burst, "then Cloud came in and her taught me how to get a dagger to stay in the wall. You know it harder than it looks, have you ever tried? But anyways, so we were fighting, then Tifa came in and she was watching us, I don't know how long she was watching. Must have been for a long time 'cause she looked tired, but we didn't see her until I tried to attack Cloud from behind, and I fell. You know my butt still hurts from falling. But that's not my point… uhh, where was I… oh, I remember. So then I pulled Tifa and told her to fight Cloud. Then I left, and now their both in the same garage together alone!!" Yuffie collapsed on the floor letting out a sighing. "Cid? Yuffie looked up to where Cid was sitting. "Cid where are you?"

Just then Cid came back with a beer, "want one?" he asked trying to hand her a beer.

"eww, no. did you even hear my story?" she shoves the bottle away.

"yeh, somethin' about Cloud and Tifa alone in a garage"

Yuffie smile again, "isn't it exciting?"

"yeh, whatever, now earthier you leave or help me."

"What do you need help with" Yuffie asks sitting down on top of Cid desk, cross-legged.

"well, fris' you could off of my desk."

"oh, ok." Yuffie gets off of his desk but in the process knocked over an open beer, "oops."

"shit. Yuffie. Look jus' take this and give it to Leon." He thrust a letter into her hands.

"sorry cid" Yuffie looks apologetically at Cid who now sorting through wet papers. "jus'-just go."

With that Yuffie went to the kitchen, taking the stairs two at a time. "Oh, Cid" Yuffie calls back down stairs, "you might want to do the dishes, Tifa didn't get to them."

Yuffie wondered through town. Not really knowing where to being to look for Leon.

The temptation to open the letter was hard to resist, about the only thing that keep her from do so, was there would be no way she could seal it back up with out Squall knowing. So the letter lied heavy in her hand, every second her curiosity grew.

"aww screw it, "Yuffie said out loud, as she carefully opened the envelope. In side laid folded piece of paper. Yuffie opened the paper up, and found a short note, it wasn't long enough to be called a letter, but at the bottom a picture was glued on the paper. The picture was of Squall, holding a dark haired girl. This must this be the girl that hurt him. This has to be the girl that he loved. She was reason, he hurts so much. Looking at the photo Squall looked so happy, alive. Yuffie instantly was jealous of the dark haired girl, who got to know him when he was happy, back when he liked being Squall. Yuffie's eyes then traveled up to the letter portion.

_Squall,_

_Where ever you may be, I know you would have come back to me. But time is running short. A couple days after you disappeared, I forgot all about you, it was strange, every one forgot. But then I had a dream. And you where there, telling me that you would com back. I held on to that dream, and it helped me and the others to remember you. During the time that I started to remember you I found that was pregnant. There is no doubt that you're the father. I'm sorry to bring this onto you. I wish I could have gone out to find you myself, but the state that I'm in isn't one to travel. But believe me Squall. As soon as this baby is born, I'm coming to find you. I love you with all of my heart, and looking to stars knowing that you see the same one at night. I love you, and miss you daily,_

_Forever yours_

_Riona_

Underneath the short, and very neatly written letter, another note was written, this time is was messy hand writing.

_Squall_

_Sorry I couldn't tell you this sooner, and sorry I can't tell you in person. I'm not even sure if this letter will get to you. But I want you to know that you would have had a beautiful, baby girl, her name was __Adele__, and she would 20 months last Sunday, April 18. I'm sorry to tell you this but Riona didn't make it out of child birth, she only lived long enough to tell us her name, and that she wanted you to have her. It was the next day Adele died, she was weak baby. That following morning we found Riona's letter; she never did get to send it. We also wanted to tell you not to be mad at Riona, she didn't mean to hurt you. You should know better than any one that people slip up and make mistakes._

_Zell_

Shocked Yuffie stopped walking, "I can't believe it, Squall has-uhh had a kid" Yuffie said out loud, even though she was alone. "awe the poor child, and poor Squall, he never even got to see his daughter." Yuffie looked up and started to walk faster, Leon need to know this, even if the beginning was sad that last line might make him heal, to what ever this Riona character did. Putting the letter back in the envelope, Yuffie did her best to reseal the letter.

Walking to the fountain, she saw Leon. At the sight of him she had to laugh, he was sitting alone, in the fountain. "wait," she said mentally, "he's not alone" waling closer, she saw another body close to his, "he's with Aerith!" slowly she turned around, maybe they haven't seen her yet, however when turning Yuffie tripped over an crack sticking up in the ground. She came down with a load thump, "awe that hurt" she cried, while mentally kicking her own clumsiness

"Yuffie?" that was Leon calling her. She turned around, finding both Leon and Aerith few feet apart, Leon looked normal, but on the other hand Aerith was going red, fast.

"ye-yes?" she asked turning around, more gracefully.

"wha-"

"you know, I think I have to get going, see you guys around." Aerith interrupted Leon.

Once Aerith was out of ear shot, Yuffie turned to Leon, "Sorry Squall, I didn't mean to interrupt." Her face went red, cursing the fact that she was embarrass of finding them two, and over the fact that felt extremely jealous of Aerith now too; she continued. "It just that-"

She was interrupted, "tell me only the important facts."

Giving him a playful glare, she started to talk again. "so I was fighting with Cloud. Then Tifa.."

"Yuffie, only the important stuff."

"fine. Cid told me to give you something."

"Well?"

"Well what?" she asked innocently. Just know deciding that she didn't want to him sad.

"What do you have for me."

"I don't think you want it." She turned her body to the side holding the letter in both hands on her side of her body that Leon couldn't see.

"yuff, give it to me."

"say the magic word." She said in a playful voice, she was trying as hard as she could so make him forget about thing she had for him.

"please" he forced a grin.

"no, you wont like."

He didn't even answer; he just walked over to her. Yuffie started to back up but she hit the side on the fountain, and she did not want to get wet. So Leon simply took the letter that was in her hand.

"that's not it. That's mine." She said almost to fast to hear.

"Then why does it say my name on it?"

"uhh—uhh, oh squ—I mean Leon, don't open it, you wont like it." But she was too late; he already had the letter out and was reading it. Second after opening the letter he sunk down, sitting on the fountain edge. A few minutes passed, and then he looked up at Yuffie with somber eyes.

"You read this?"

She shifted from foot to foot, "yes…are you mad?"

He didn't answer for sometime, but then shook his head.

"Who was she?" Yuffie dared to ask, sitting herself down next to him.

He didn't answer, but he looked Yuffie in the eyes, trying to read if he could tell her.

"it's ok, you don't-"

"She was a girl, that I traveled with." He look bitterly at the letter in his hand, "that I fell in love with. Her name was Rinoa Heartilly, she was an amazing singer and she played the piano as well too. She was tough and gentle. We traveled together for some time, as we got to know each other more, thing just started to happen. It wasn't the right time for a relationship, so we put off. I had about week with her, once our journey done. Then I found her with Irvine, another one of our friends."

Yuffie didn't know what to say, so she leaned on him, trying to let him know that she would do what she could to help. He took a breath, "I wasn't surprised when I found out it was Irvine, he was always a flirt, but never thought she would…would" he voice faltered.

"well, this Zell guy, said to forgive her. You know, he's right we all make mistakes." Yuffie said wisely

"I did forgive her, but I never got to tell that. I was torn away and got placed here. Once I realized I wasn't going back, being angry at her was easier."

"so—all those time you were sad… you were thinking about her…"

He nodded.

"it all makes sense. You would only tell me little things. I knew you were hurt, and I knew a girl hurt you, though I never knew her name."

He looked her in eyes, she could tell this was painful for him; she could see the hurt in his eyes.

"and then—this morning.. in the garden…" he words were slow, like she was figuring it all out as she spoke, "you finely said you going to love again. That you had to try." She blinked away tears now realizing, that when he said this morning he was going to try again, he meant try to love again. Love Aerith. The picture was clear, and yet Yuffie felt even worse than she did, when she thought he was going to leave and find Riona again. She shook her head, and wiped her eyes, trying to make it look like she was only wiping sweat. "And now your trying again with Aerith?" she framed it as question, hoping that he would tell her she got it wrong. But he didn't moving, which was just as good as telling her that he loved Aerith.

They sat in silence until Leon broke it. "I was, but… now, I don't think I can." He crushed the letter in his hand and hit his fist to the cement they sat on. Yuffie acted on instincts, her hand covered his, and got him to relax so she could take the letter from his hand.

"You know," she said, "she wants you to be happy. She sent you a picture, so you carry her memory around in your pocket, rather than on mind. She knew that she wouldn't make it out of birth. That's why she said it was too late. She wants you try again." Yuffie closed her eyes, making the tears stop, "and Adele is happier where she is… she went straight to heaven, didn't have to suffer through this world first." She smiled awkwardly; talking about heaven to Leon was weird. Personally, Yuffie didn't believe in the next life, and she no clue if he did either, but telling him that Adele was in heaven, happy seemed like a good idea. "Besides, she doesn't want her daddy to give up on finding love again." She pretended to whip sweat, but this time he noticed that it wasn't sweat she was whipping. "I don't want you to give up either." She took a deep breath, she just told Leon to try a relationship with Aerith, when she's known for a long time that she liked him. Wiping more sweat, she got up and put a fake smile on. "Now don't you give up! and don't get hurt." She joked but then turned around started to walk away. She could stay any longer she wasn't in control of her emotions, as she walk away she said in low voice so he wouldn't hear "Aerith won't mean to, but she'll hurt you. She can't get over Cloud" she didn't notice that Leon got and followed her, so he could hear her last statement perfectly.

"I still have to try." He said right behind her.

The breath in her chest froze, he wasn't meant to hear that, but she had to think fast of a comment fast. "just…Be careful" she then turned around again this time kicking herself for coming with a lame comment. As she turn a single tear ran down her face, Yuffie didn't whip her eyes fast enough, Leon saw the tear, and she knew it. So she started to run, and as she ran the tear started to flow more, but she didn't care now that she was alone.

Back at the fountain, Leon called to Yuffie to come back; he wanted to know why she was sad. Yuffie didn't hear him though a continued to run so Leon sat back down looking up to the sky that was getting steadily darker. Sitting there by him self he watched the stars come out knowing that Yuffie was right, some where up there was Riona, and his daughter, Adele.

**: End of day one:**

**Sorry no Tifa and cloud in this one, but I want to build the story with the other three more… and if any one knows what I should do with Cid? I don't what to do. So I just him as a comic relief, I hope it working, Yuffie kind of is a comic relief too, but only sometimes…**

**Review please…**


	5. Lines of Revenge

**Sorry I lied that was the day one but this the night of day one and morning of day two…**

**I own nothing… and sorry for being late**

**Radiant Gardens **

**Chapter five**

**Lines of Revenge**

The stars were coming out fast. It must be around three in the morning. Yet here she sits alone on hill over looking their home. Everyone is asleep but three people. The first, of course is her self, the second is Cloud. And third, Squall. She knows that there not asleep because there light is on. Sitting the dark she finds herself staring at squalls window, watching him pace back and forth, picking up and then setting down only to pick the letter back up. He's in pain, she knows it, and yet she can't help him. She doesn't know how to help him. Shifting her gaze she looks at Cloud's window. His window is open, and he sitting on the window sill looking up at the stars. She can see his lips moving, but she can't hear anything. Squinting she can just barely read his lips.

"…I said …live both ours lives…cant…..don't remember anything….a black whole emplace of the many faces…. Tifa cant either…haven't ask Yuffie… you're the only one, Zack, the only one I can remember….help me remember…oh… also a girl….Marlene?...I cant remember… why Cant I remember?!" Cloud felt her staring at him and moved his vision from the stars to the hill top, staring directly at her. Then he climb back into his room and turned of his lights.

She sat on the hill top hugging her knees, the wind blowing her hair across the side of her face. The stars were bright tonight, looking at them on top of this hill, overlooking their home and the city, she felt so small and helpless. She can't imagine what Sora must feel, he travels from world to world, and the more he goes to, the smaller he must feel. She started to think about what she told Squall today about heaven. Is there really another world you go to when you die? Surly if there was Sora would have been there. But, what if this world can't be reached but the key? Or maybe what if kingdom hearts is heaven? And when you die you go there… that would also explain why the nobodies want hearts because you cant die with out a heart, you just disappear, like Axel did. She shakes her head, it too hard to think about. She doesn't want to think about it. Behind her, she hears foot steps, looking over her shoulder she sees Cloud walking up to her.

He sits himself down next her curled up form.

"What's up?" she asks.

"Just wanted to look at the stars. And then I saw you on the hill top and thought is would be more comfortable than the window sill."

"Oh" she lies down, now stretch out on her back. He follows suit his head near hers. They sit in silence watching the stars.

"Whose life do you have to live?" she asks suddenly, remembering what she read off of his lips earlier.

He sits up looking at her questionably.

"You know," she sighs, "on your window sill you were muttering something, I was trying to read your lips… whose life do you have to live?, what haven't you asked me? And who is Marlene?"

He lays back down looking up at the stars. "I- I remember promising Zack, that I would live both our lives out… you remember him? Tifa doesn't, already asked her."

"Did he have dark hair, and purple eyes?"

"Yeah, he did, was a soldier, a real first class soldier, also my best friends. He died saving me. But that all I remember."

"I remember him. He used to wake up early and go on a run, I remember because he was loud when he was not trying to be quite and he would always wake me up… wait but who is Marlene?"

"I don't know, all I can remember is the name, and that she was a little girl."

"Have you asked Tifa about her?" Yuffie asked.

"No, I only just remembered her name in my room."

"Oh"

Yuffie gets up and walks over to the cliff side of the hill.

"where ya' going" Cloud asked.

"Don't know.. Back to bed.." she turned and started to walk down the path to their home.

"Hold up I'll come too." He got and started to walk with her.

"So.." she punched Cloud slightly, "how was your date with Tifa?"

"Good. Wha—what? _Date?_ No that wasn't a _date"_

"Yeah what ever... did you kiss her?"

"Almost…uh... I meant No."

Yuffie started to laugh while Cloud grew red. " I have to talk to you more often when your tired... you like her."

"just go to bed, Yuffie."

"haha, you do! Aww that's so cute…" Yuffie made to grab the door handle of their house they just came to, but Cloud got to it first. "Don't tell a soul that…"

"Yeah, yeah I won't." she smiled playfully.

"I mean it." He still held the door firmly shut.

"Ok! I won't just let's go inside; I'm starting to get cold."

Cloud opened the door quickly and went inside and shut the door before Yuffie could get in. "good night yuff…"

"Cloud! Let me in! Cloud, I'm cold!!"

She heard him walking to the stairs.

"Cloud!...Damit!" for fifteen minutes Yuffie walked around the house looking for a way in. finally she saw a vine growing on the side of their house. She climbed up to the top to find an open window. Walking down the hall upstairs she passes Clouds room, opening the door slightly she found him out cold on his bed. Quickly she pulled out a permanent marker and started to get her revenge for locking her out side.

…………………………………………………………………

**Sorry I haven't had the time t write, nor have I thought of anything. If you have idea tell me please. This is a filler chapter to let you know my story is still going but it's going to take time and updates will slow. Sorry.**

**Reviews make me happy and let me know I not writing to no one.**


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